Before you go see “Iron Man 3” five times in a row this weekend, let me have your attention for a minute and let you look at a few other options coming up this summer. I’ll be brief so that you can get back to your Robert Downey Jr. buzzfeed articles ASAP.
The Bling Ring
Sofia Coppola clearly doesn’t give a damn if you think she only makes movies about the rich and famous. But her critics might be forced to recalculate with “The Bling Ring,” as it looks like Coppola is taking a more satirical approach this time around: rather than lamenting the melancholy and isolation of celebrity, she looks to be mocking the vapid culture of entitlement that has sprung up among those who aspire to that lifestyle. So “Spring Breakers” for those who can’t stomach James Franco anymore (me! me! me!).
I went back and forth on Emma Watson’s latest stab at an American accent – it’s tempting to say she’s stumbled too far into caricature, but that kind of exaggeration may be exactly what the film calls for. Difficult to tell from these brief clips. However, either way, the delivery on her karma speech – “I want to lead the country some day, for all I know” – is priceless, and keeps me encouraged.
Also, SLEIGH BELLS. Every trailer should have Sleigh Bells.
Prince Avalanche
When did Emile Hirsch start looking exactly like young Jack Black, and how can we make it stop?
“Prince Avalanche” looks like a nice blend of David Gordon Green’s sensibilities, he who gave us both indie darlings like “George Washington” and “Snow Angels” and mainstream stoner duds like “Your Highness.” I’m always up for an offbeat comedy with Paul Rudd, possibly the most inherently likable actor in the Apatow stable. But seriously, Emile Hirsch is freaking me out. Is this one of those body-swap films in disguise?
The Grandmaster
We’ve been seeing promo images from this fight scene in Wong Kar-Wai’s long-awaited Ip Man biopic for years. Now at least they’re moving. That’s a step.
Don’t get me wrong, this scene is obviously gorgeous – but that’s something we can always expect from the guy who made “Chungking Express” and “In the Mood for Love.” My real concern is that we still know squat about the film as a whole – is this fight scene a fantasy sequence? Am I supposed to believe Ip Man actually fought off several dozen men in a pouring night-time rainstorm for no apparent reason? What on earth is happening in this movie? You can have all the ravishing imagery you want, but you might still be left holding a “My Blueberry Nights” at the end of it.
Mood Indigo
I had somehow totally missed that Michel Gondry, he of flights of fancy like “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “The Science of Sleep,” was back to his old tricks after a disastrous foray into mainstream filmmaking with “The Green Hornet.” It seems impossible that it’s taken so long for Gondry to team up with France’s resident Manic Pixie Dream Girl, Audrey Tautou, but here we are. Gondry’s boundless imagination is certainly on full display here – but of course the director’s problem is generally not a lack of creative imagery. The whole “water lily in a lung” plot already has me almost gagging from its preciousness – Gondry has to be very careful with that if he wants to rediscover the emotional resonance of “Eternal Sunshine.”
The Best Films of Our Lives 